Air traffic, both private and commercial, continues to increase. With this increase, there has been a concomitant increase in the likelihood of runway conflicts. Efforts are thus being made to increase aircraft flight crew situational awareness during ground operations. As part of this effort, a format for airport surface map databases has been developed that can be used to render maps that include runways, taxiways, and/or apron elements on one or more flight deck displays. Although quite useful in providing data for rendering airport surface maps, the database does not provide any information regarding potential conflicts between aircraft that may occupy a single taxiway.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and a system that will display runways, taxiways, and/or apron elements, and that will provide sufficient position and/or orientation information to the flight crew. Additionally, it is desirable to have a method and a system that indicates whether a potential conflict exists on a taxiway between the positions of two aircraft. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.